Seán O'Connor (businessman)

Seán O'Connor (born 29 April 1960) is an Irish businessman and former politician.

On 13 December 1982, O'Connor was nominated to Seanad Éireann.^[1] He was nominated to the 16th Seanad to fill a vacancy, and was briefly a member until its dissolution on 21 December 1982. He is a grandson of Taoiseach Seán Lemass, and lectures in Political Marketing and Public Affairs Ethics at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). He as an unsuccessful candidate for a University seat at the 2007 Seanad election.

Together with Ronan Morgan, O'Connor is a co-founder of Rally Ireland, a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC).^[2] It was the largest North-South sporting initiative ever undertaken. Research undertaken by the University of Ulster has estimated that hosting the 2007 WRC round was worth €46 million to the economy. In addition, this sporting series has a global annual TV audience of over 800 million people. Rally Ireland had over 240,000 spectators and a TV audience in 180 markets.

In 2009, O'Connor joined the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE as Director of Strategy to assist in the staging of the first Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. In 2011 he was appointed Vice Chairman of the Institute of Sports Research in the UAE the first such academic facility in the Persian Gulf region.

He was educated at Terenure College, Dublin, where he was a member of the Senior Cup rugby team. He has a degree from DIT in marketing, a MA from Dublin City University in political communications, and a Doctorate from the University of Ulster. He lives in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, with his wife and five children.

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